Brandon Weeden isn’t promised anything when healthy

Posted by Josh Alper on September 19, 2013, 7:13 AM EDT

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The Browns shook up their season on Wedenesday when they dealt running back Trent Richardson to the Colts.

That’s not be the only big and possibly permanent change coming to the offense. Wide receiver Greg Little’s been dropped from the starting lineup because of his performance over the first two weeks and coach Rob Chudzinski said Wednesday that Brandon Weeden won’t necessarily be returning to the starting lineup once he recovers from the thumb injury that opened the door for Brian Hoyer to start this weekend.

“I don’t really see it as that. We’ll see how things are going, how Brandon is doing from a health standpoint, evaluate it on a weekly basis and put the guy out who is going to give us the best chance to win, whoever that is,” Chudzinski said.

The coach also said that Hoyer, Weeden and Jason Campbell were all very close in their competition this summer, which wasn’t the way things played out in terms of playing time with the first team but that hardly matters if the mindset of the team has changed. Trading Richardson makes it clear that the Browns are tacking in a different direction and it doesn’t appear to be one that will buy Weeden more than a raffle ticket for a chance at the starting job again this season.

this team is a hot mess. has there ever been two first-round picks that were given up on the following year by the same team? cleveland fans – i have no love for you, but you deserve better than the way these guys are running things. this is pure clownshoes by this franchise.

It’s clear to Browns fans that management has given up on this season. Their battle plans include stocking up draft picks and going after a franchise QB from the college ranks.
They will trade Weeden for a draft pick, even if it’s a 6th rounder.

The Browns must have taken a look at Jacksonville and decided that they needed to do more to compete for the first overall pick. Getting rid of Richardson was a good start, but you might accidentally win a few with Weeden in there. Best to go for the third string QB the rest of the season. Maybe they can trade Josh Gordon to the Patriots for a second rounder. How about Joe Thomas to the Broncos for their first rounder?